ENCINITAS TO WEIGH MAYOR’S PAY

Council meets today to address items ahead of campaign season

The Encinitas City Council is set to decide this week whether the city’s future elected mayor should be paid more than other council members.

The mayor’s likely job duties, and many 2014 election-related issues — including city-proposed ballot measures, campaign sign regulations and an update on a medical marijuana initiative coming before voters — also are on today’s agenda. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

The Encinitas City Council doesn’t typically meet on the first Wednesday of each month, but this session has been added so the council can devote an entire gathering to election issues, Mayor Teresa Barth said Monday.

“We realized we had so many items to address,” she said, adding that she wants these things resolved before the 2014 campaign season begins.

Barth is serving as Encinitas mayor this year under the city’s current system where council members take turns in the job. For much of 2014, Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer will be the city’s mayor.

But in late 2014, everything changes. Voters will be picking the city’s mayor for the first time in the November 2014 general election. Under the new system, which voters approved in 2012, the elected mayor will serve a two-year term.

Currently, the mayor and the council make the same amount — $1,186 a month.

Barth — who said she’ll decide early next year whether she’ll run for the elected mayor’s spot — said she believes a good argument can be made for paying the mayor slightly more than the council members. In her nine months in the job, she’s discovered that even an appointed mayor has more duties than a council member, she said.

However, the pay shouldn’t be substantially different, she added, because even under the new system, Encinitas won’t have a strong mayor form of government, as the city of San Diego does.

In addition to the mayor issues, the council expects to receive an update Wednesday night on the medical marijuana ballot initiative, which qualified in 2012 to appear on the 2014 general election ballot.

That initiative creates regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries, including setting their hours of operation. If the dispensaries can meet these conditions, they qualify for city permits allowing them to open, the initiative states.

Encinitas voters may also find some other local items on the 2014 ballot. At last week’s meeting, council members said they are considering submitting some city-sponsored measures related to the multiyear effort to overhaul the city’s General Plan. Among other things, voters may be asked if the city can ease its new 30-foot maximum building height limit in some commercial areas of town.